US20140052285A1
Active / In Force
US
⏱️ 5.3 years remaining
Method for specifying and fabricating an object, associated apparatus, and applications
Assignee: Cornell University
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Filing: 2012-03-05
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2032-03-05
Abstract
Abstract A method for specifying and fabricating non-homogeneous, anisotropic, truly functionally graded objects. The objects may have defined spatial heterogeneity (e.g., a gradient in material concentration) with local randomized distributions. This local randomness is designed in such a way that global averaging results in the specified spatial heterogeneity. The fabrication of structures is an additive process in which a material is deposited in defined patterns.
Inventors
- 👤 Jonathan T. Butcher
- 👤 Kevin H. Kang
- 👤 Kevin Yeh
- 👤 Philip Yue-cheng Cheung
- 👤 Laura A. Hockaday
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 17:56
CPC Classifications
B; B29; B29C; B29C64/00; B29C64/30; B29C64/386; B29C64/393; G; G05; G05B; G05B19/00; G05B19/02; G05B19/04; G05B19/042; G05B19/0426; G06F17/50; G06; G06F; G06F30/00; G06F30/10; H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/40; H04N1/405; B33; B33Y; B33Y10/00
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 27
Claim 1
Independent Claim
121 words
1 . A machine-implemented method for specifying a target object to be fabricated, comprising the steps of: i) defining the target object to be fabricated; ii) determining a locally-heterogeneous, anisotropic distribution of phenotypic characteristics of the target object to be fabricated; iii) ascribing the distribution of phenotypic characteristics to a plurality of materials from which the target object will be fabricated; iv) stitching together each distribution corresponding to respective ones of the materials into respective sets of vector paths corresponding to respective ones of the materials, wherein each set of vector paths is one or more line elements of a given length and orientation; and v) creating a vector print file for the target object readable by a compatible fabrication apparatus.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
121 words
1 . A machine-implemented method for specifying a target object to be fabricated, comprising the steps of: i) defining the target object to be fabricated; ii) determining a locally-heterogeneous, anisotropic distribution of phenotypic characteristics of the target object to be fabricated; iii) ascribing the distribution of phenotypic characteristics to a plurality of materials from which the target object will be fabricated; iv) stitching together each distribution corresponding to respective ones of the materials into respective sets of vector paths corresponding to respective ones of the materials, wherein each set of vector paths is one or more line elements of a given length and orientation; and v) creating a vector print file for the target object readable by a compatible fabrication apparatus.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
39 words
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of defining the target object to be fabricated comprises one of sourcing the target object from a prescribed image and sourcing the target object from a mathematical model.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of sourcing the target object from a prescribed image further comprises reconstructing the image of the target object into a 3-D machine-readable format.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
72 words
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising: obtaining a plurality of image layers; determining a desired image resolution; selecting one or more of the plurality of image layers as an n th fabrication layer image, where n is equal to or greater than one; and optionally, resizing the n th fabrication layer image for specifying at least one of a size and a volume characteristic of the target object.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
65 words
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of determining a locally-heterogeneous, anisotropic distribution of phenotypic characteristics of the target object to be fabricated further comprises assigning values between zero to one to a each of a plurality of pixels or voxels, or to each of a plurality of sets of adjoining pixels or voxels, of the n th fabrication layer image.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
46 words
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of ascribing the distribution of phenotypic characteristics to a plurality of materials from which the target object will be fabricated further comprises associating a plurality of the assigned values to respective ones of the materials.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
31 words
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of associating a plurality of the assigned values to respective ones of the materials further comprises thresholding the assigned values.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
36 words
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of associating a plurality of the assigned values to respective ones of the materials further comprises determining Hounsfield unit values for the pixels or voxels.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
28 words
9 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising removing background that is not a part of the target object from the n th fabrication layer image.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
39 words
10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of stitching together each distribution further comprises dithering each of the plurality of the assigned values into a plurality of segments corresponding to respective ones of the materials.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
15 words
11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising utilizing a Floyd-Steinberg dithering algorithm.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
28 words
12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising converting each of the plurality of segments into the vector paths for the respective ones of the materials.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
132 words
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of creating a vector path further comprises: a) selecting a starting index; b) comparing the starting index to an adjacent index in a specified direction; c) determining whether the starting and adjacent indices are assigned to the same one of the materials, and d) if the starting and adjacent indices are assigned to the same one of the materials, then (e) creating a vector path between the indices, or f) if the starting and adjacent indices are not assigned to the same one of the materials, then g) changing the adjacent index into a new starting index and performing steps (b-e); and h) performing steps (a-g) until a sufficient number of vector paths have been generated to specify the target object.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
30 words
14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising iteratively performing steps (iii-v) for a plurality of n fabrication layers, where n is equal to or greater than one.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
32 words
15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising iteratively performing steps (iii-v) for a plurality of the n th fabrication layers, where n is equal to or greater than one.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
25 words
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the phenotypic characteristics of the target object to be fabricated are surface and/or internal phenotypic characteristics.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
29 words
17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising outputting the vector print file for the target object to the compatible fabrication apparatus and fabricating the target object.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
48 words
18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising fabricating the target object in a series of n fabrication layers, and photo-curing a selected region of each n th fabrication layer simultaneously with the layer fabrication or prior to the fabrication of the n th +1 layer.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
29 words
19 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising outputting the vector print file for the target object to the compatible fabrication apparatus and fabricating the target object.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
48 words
20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising fabricating the target object in a series of n fabrication layers, and photo-curing a selected region of each n th fabrication layer simultaneously with the layer fabrication or prior to the fabrication of the n th +1 layer.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
156 words
21 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of sourcing the target object from a mathematical model further comprises: defining the 3-D geometry of a selected target object; determining a gradient distribution of material compositions of the target object to be applied to the geometry; establishing a probability distribution function based on the gradient distribution to determine a plurality of path segments and assigning a plurality of one or more of the path segments to a corresponding plurality of materials from which the target object will be fabricated; dithering the pluralities of path segments based on the probability distribution function; converting the dithered path segments into respective sets of vector paths corresponding to respective ones of the materials, wherein each set of vector paths is one or more line elements of a given length and orientation; and v) creating a vector print file for the target object readable by a compatible fabrication apparatus.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
14 words
22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the gradient distribution is linear.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
14 words
23 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the gradient distribution is non-linear.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
14 words
24 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the gradient distribution is radial.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
29 words
25 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising outputting the vector print file for the target object to the compatible fabrication apparatus and fabricating the target object.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
48 words
26 . The method of claim 25 , further comprising fabricating the target object in a series of n fabrication layers, and photo-curing a selected region of each n th fabrication layer simultaneously with the layer fabrication or prior to the fabrication of the n th +1 layer.
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